Genius Hour: Topic Exploration

Today was our second day (and second week) for Genius Hour. I knew that after all of last week's excitement, we had to do something with all of those fascinating ideas. So I created this document:

Here is a link to my public document.

I explained that in order to see if an idea would work, they would need to "try it on" in this document to see if it was possible and workable. This forced them to think about not only a cool project, but what they would have to research, how they would research, and where the project would be made. It is important to note that projects could be completed at home, but only with parent permission. (Some students were interested in building a Rube Goldberg machine. But not in MY classroom!) 

After initial trepidation, most kids just dived right in.

These two students shared an idea about bioluminescence.

This student has filled out his paper and is looking at Roman coliseums.

And we had trouble, too. With students who had NO IDEAS AT ALL. Thankfully, I had a remedy for that. All summer I had been collecting magazine and newspaper articles of possible topics. I'm so glad I did! 

So hot, it burns!

I sat down with this student and got him "fired up" about Easter Island statues and Terracotta Warriors. 

Checking out dung beetles in my HOT IDEAS binder.

All in all, a very successful Genius Hour. One thing: I don't think that the students were used to such freedom of investigation. I had a lot of, "Is it okay if I research..." They felt that they needed my permission to think freely. I told them, fill out the form (so helpful!) and then check the idea out on your iPad to see if it really interests you. Next week, "The Idea Proposal."